What To Say When You Cold Call
Cold calling is an unheralded intervention into someone's already packed schedule. They are distracted by the phone from what they were concentrating on, so they are automatically annoyed. They are time conscious because this call was not in their plan. The person calling them is an unknown quantity, so the trust factor is zero or less than that. They have been cold called by idiots in the past, who say dumb things like, "How are you today" which is an immediate warning bell that we are talking to a nincompoop. The unfamiliar voice triggers “who is this?”, and a feeling that being called by unknown people is not good, “I don't like this”.
So how do we call people in a way that we can add value to their business? A good starting point is to define what is the purpose of the call. Anyone thinking of pitching their whatever on the phone, had better rethink right now what they are doing. There are some items we can sell by phone, but actually very, very few with any success.
There is only one point in making this call and that is to sit in front of the client at a later date and have a conversation about their needs and whether we might be the solution to any problems they may be having. Having said that, the point is not to bludgeon them into a meeting, should they indicate zero interest. If you plan on staying in business then killing your personal brand is not a good idea. Be gracious on the phone, definitely don't be pushy and be charming.
Here is how it can go:
"Hello, may I speak with Suzuki san please?" This opening presumes we have a name to ask for. Usually in Japan if you only have a title, you will get killed at the entry point by some lowly minion, whose only joy in life is getting rid of salespeople like you who call unannounced.
Let's continue:
"Speaking"
"Suzuki san, my name is Greg Story, I am with Dale Carnegie. Do you have a moment to speak? When I say my name I slow down and put a little gap between the “Greg” and the “Story”, so that they can easily catch my name.
I ask for permission to speak with them, respecting their schedule. If they a too busy to speak, it won't matter what I say, I will only be annoying them and will blot my copy book for a later call. If they are too busy at that point, then I say: "Thank you for letting me know, I will give you a call later in the week".
I don't ask for a day or time, because they have already told me they are busy and I want to show I respect their schedule.
If they say, “Fine", then I know I have their agreed attention.
" Suzuki san, thank you. We are in the XYZ business. I have done some research and I see that your company profile fits with what our typical satisfied clients looks like. We have been able to improve the results for our clients who fit this profile because we have ABC. I was just wondering if our ABC were able to grow your business, like it has for our other clients, would getting those sort of outcomes also be of benefit to your company?"
We let them know what business we are in, so that they can garner some context for this unexpected call. We mention we have done research and the call is the product of some analysis and intelligence, not the random phoning a numbers from the phone book or business directory. We mention we have had success for people who look looks them and wonder, not unreasonably, if lightening could strike twice for them as well. We ask if they would like to grow their business.
It doesn't matter if they say "Yes" or "No" next, because we are ready for both. If they say "Yes" then we say:
“Thank you. I am not sure if what we have is a perfect fit for you or not, but let me swing by and show you what we have and how it works. Then you can make a judgment if it is helpful or not. Would this week suit or would next week be better."
We are polite and thank them for their agreement to continue. We are not pushy and we readily acknowledge this may not be suitable, but we at least want to give them the chance to make that judgment. This week or next week is an alternate choice, the answer to which is an agreement to meet, rather than a “yes” or a “no”. If they nominate a week, then we move to the next stage and suggest a choice of days, and having arrived at a day, we ask about morning or afternoon. We don't continue the alternate of choice after this, because it is becoming annoying. We just shoot for a time and then be prepared to vary it according to their time frame.
If they say "no" to wanting to improve the results for their business we say: " Thank you for telling me, may I ask why you say that?" And then we shut up and say absolutely nothing.
There may a thousand good reasons why they don't want to meet and we should be prepared to accept the referee’s decision and not try to force the issue. They may say something however which allows us to reframe the value of meeting and we can carry on asking about getting together this week or next week and so on. Remember a “no” is not “no”. It is “not right now, not in this budget cycle, not in this market, not in the firm’s current situation, not at this period of the financial year”. We do not want to leave them with a pushy, bad impression. This is because we will be calling them back in about 6-9 month’s time, when many of these extraneous factors have changed and their buying situation is quite different.
If we are polite, craft our conversation emphasising the value we can bring to them and only aim for a meeting then we can cold call people effectively. The success rate is not high, but sometimes that is what you have to do, to get new business. When there is best practice about how to cold call, it makes sense to use it.
Engaged employees are self-motivated. The self-motivated are inspired. Inspired staff grow your business but are you inspiring them? We teach leaders and organisations how to inspire their people. Want to know how we do that? Contact me at greg.story@dalecarnegie.com
If you enjoy these articles, then head over to www.japan.dalecarnegie.com and check out our "Free Stuff" offerings - whitepapers, guidebooks, training videos, podcasts, blogs. Take a look at our Japanese and English seminars, workshops, course information and schedules.
About The Author
Dr. Greg Story: President, Dale Carnegie Training Japan
In the course of his career Dr. Greg Story has moved from the academic world, to consulting, investments, trade representation, international diplomacy, retail banking and people development. Growing up in Brisbane, Australia he never imagined he would have a Ph.D. in Japanese decision-making and become a 30 year veteran of Japan.
A committed lifelong learner, through his published articles in the American, British and European Chamber journals, his videos and podcasts “THE Leadership Japan Series”, "THE Sales Japan series", THE Presentations Japan Series", he is a thought leader in the four critical areas for business people: leadership, communication, sales and presentations. Dr. Story is a popular keynote speaker, executive coach and trainer.
Since 1971, he has been a disciple of traditional Shitoryu Karate and is currently a 6th Dan. Bunbu Ryodo (文武両道-both pen & sword) is his mantra and he applies martial art philosophies and strategies to business.
Woeful Contributions From Salespeople
Three woeful contributions from salespeople include "we have this widget", "you should have it?" and "we can discount the price". What a mess right there. Yet, left to their own devices, this is the type of nonsense salespeople say to clients. Serving the client's best interests is job one for salespeople, so why aren't they having a proper conversation with the buyer?
They are untrained, unprofessional and unskilled. What should they be saying? We don't have anything for the buyer, until we have some idea of what they need. Going through the detail of the latest release, model, new variation etc., is pointless. Yet out come the brochures, detailing the spec, trying to lure buyers with glossy photos and copywriting. This has its place, of course, but timing is everything. The buyer wants it in pink, but we don't know that. If we head off on a monologue about the wonder of our blue range, we are going to get nowhere - glossy photos or otherwise.
Ask the buyer about where they are now with their business and then where they want to be? The size of the gap tells the salesperson whether they are the one with the solution to closing that gap or not. If the gap is not so large, better to go and find a buyer who has the opposite situation. Don't waste anyone's time any further.
If there is a sizable gap, ask why they haven't filled it in themselves already. What an ace question! In this answer is the hint as to whether we have the magic answer to solve their problem. Listening to them, we may however discover that we don't have what they need. No need for wrestling the buyer to the ground and trying to force them to buy. Get out of there as fast as polite and go find someone who you can provide with a solution.
The next question in this escalation is about their why. There are usually four “whys”. There is the unit why, the division why, the company why and then their own personal why. Their personal why is the key driver of buyer behavior, as we are driven by our own best interests. Once we know what success means for them, then we have an idea of how to present the solution at a later stage.
Going through the details and then asking “do you want it” is not impressive as a means of getting the buyer to go for the purchase. Instead, having now understood what they need and having ascertained we can provide it, we now (and only now) introduce our product or service. We need to check a couple of things off before we go into solution explanation mode.
Who are we talking to? Is this the big picture, macro, company direction, vision realization driven CEO? Or are we talking to detail oriented people like the CFO and the technical buyers, who want three decimal places and all the micro analysis? Are they the user buyer, who is thinking about ease of application, after sales service, guarantees and hand holding if needed? Depending on where they sit in the company our explanation of the suitability of the solution for them will be different. Similarly the way we deliver the solution during our explanation will vary depending on their personality type. Are they a straight down to business or let's have a cup of tea buyer? Are they big picture or highly detail orientated?
Discounting is the cancer of sales. It is a brand killer, a symbol of low value, a slippery slide for which there is only one direction and that is down. The salesperson is like water. They find the path of least resistance and the antidote to price preservation is discounting, because it is easy. Salespeople are here to provide value. If there is a push for discounting it had better be related to volume purchases. The defense of the brand is critical and price preservation is needed if the organization is to stay in business. This is the salesperson' job - provide value.
There are budget limits, policies, stupidities, excuses, justifications a plenty as to why the price has to go down. Salespeople need to defend the price at all costs, including walking away. That is painful, especially with monthly targets and tonnes of pressure raining down on your head like shrapnel, but you have to stand your ground. Provide a better explanation of the value, do better research on where this solution can help the customer grow their business. Remember, if we can help the buyer to grow their business, then the product or service is essentially free. It is paid out of the growth, on the top line, not the bottom line.
Engaged employees are self-motivated. The self-motivated are inspired. Inspired staff grow your business but are you inspiring them? We teach leaders and organisations how to inspire their people. Want to know how we do that? Contact me at greg.story@dalecarnegie.com
If you enjoy these articles, then head over to www.japan.dalecarnegie.com and check out our "Free Stuff" offerings - whitepapers, guidebooks, training videos, podcasts, blogs. Take a look at our Japanese and English seminars, workshops, course information and schedules.
About The Author
Dr. Greg Story: President, Dale Carnegie Training Japan
In the course of his career Dr. Greg Story has moved from the academic world, to consulting, investments, trade representation, international diplomacy, retail banking and people development. Growing up in Brisbane, Australia he never imagined he would have a Ph.D. in Japanese decision-making and become a 30 year veteran of Japan.
A committed lifelong learner, through his published articles in the American, British and European Chamber journals, his videos and podcasts “THE Leadership Japan Series”, "THE Sales Japan series", THE Presentations Japan Series", he is a thought leader in the four critical areas for business people: leadership, communication, sales 12\\\\
Since 1971, he has been a disciple of traditional Shitoryu Karate and is currently a 6th Dan. Bunbu Ryodo (文武両道-both pen & sword) is his mantra and he applies martial art philosophies and strategies to business.
In Sales When to Start Selling?
It always astonishes me that many salespeople have very little sense of proper timing to start selling their product or service. In the sales call, they are in a rush to get down to business. Japan has mastered the idea of building some rapport before starting the sales conversation. Small talk predominates at the commencement of the meeting and then smoothly glides into the main discussion. Western business people are all "time is money" focused and want to "get straight down to business". They consider that preamble to be a waste of their valuable time.
Japan has a preference for the long term view and business partnerships. The "devil" they know is much preferred to the "angel" they don't, which is why, usually, the same suppliers get called back every year. New leaders, new staff in decision making positions can eject you from the sales supply conveyor belt but that is usually because they have their own preferred supplier "devil" they know from past dealings.
Everywhere in the world I believe people like to do business with people they like. We may be forced to do business with people we don't like, from time to time, but all things considered we all still like to do business with people we like. That early component of the rapport building stage of the sales conversation about the weather, where is your office, how long have you been in Japan etc., is designed to see if you are someone who is likeable.
Trust is the other biggie and the first meeting is mainly geared to determine if the buyer can trust you and your firm in that order. By listening and observing how we behave, the buyer is trying to get a fix on our degrees of reliability. This factor is more important in Japan because of all the tight interlocking relationships in play here. There are many more layers of distribution in Japan, so an error or a problem in any part of the food chain, can have adverse impacts down the line. The last thing a buyer wants is an unhappy buyer of their own products or services down the line of distribution, because of something we did or didn't do.
Believing we are saving time by cutting to the chase, getting down to business immediately is actually wasting your time in Japan. It is a waste because the whole sales process is probably de-railing the possibility of a sale at the very start.
Another observation I would make is that even those who observe the sales niceties in Japan, get straight into their "pitch" immediately after the small talk is finished. This is a big mistake. The loquacious salesperson is the thing of legend. Talk, talk, talk is the idea, somehow overpowering the buyer's resistance with our onslaught of logic and data.
The fail point here is the degree of relevancy. Your assembled data, powers of persuasion, inarguable logic and passionate delivery are only relevant if the discussion is on point. The trick is to actually distill what is on point? A cagey buyer who doesn't give much away, but demands much in terms of information, is a nightmare. The Japanese capacity for obscurantism, vagarity, opaqueness, combined with the circuitous nature of the Japanese language is unmatched for being indirect.
You can be sitting there, listening carefully and have no clear idea where the buyer needs are located. If you don't ask any questions and just plough right in with your "pitch", then buyer needs are unlikely to surface. If the buyer is unwilling to share their needs with a total stranger, in the first meeting, then all the "pitch" is going to result in, is some drinking of the ubiquitous cheap, bitter green tea and that is about all.
Relevancy means getting a good match between what we have and what they want. The way to understand that is to not "pitch", but to ask well designed questions and listen very, very carefully to the answers. This sounds like the simplest thing in the world to me, but so many salespeople fail to do this.
They are so keen to "tell", they confuse this with how to "sell". The solution we have to offer should be held back until we reach a point in the conversation where we determine we have what they need. To get to that point requires the client to do most of the talking. Again fast talking salesmen trying to overpower the Japanese buyer are going to fail miserably. If the client needs the item in pink, why are we talking about blue. If we don't have it in pink, why are we talking at all?
In Japan, for whatever reason, the cadence of a meeting is small talk, then the business discussion, a possibility of a proposal, if there is interest and more small talk on the way to the elevators, wrapped up in a hour bracket. We can sometime go longer, but only if the interest and time schedule permits, but usually the hour is the calibration.
The wise salesperson realizes the likelihood of a sale from a first meeting is relatively low in Japan, so they know they are playing a long game here and are therefore not frantic about getting an immediate result. Getting permission to come back with our proposal is a big win in Japan. If the client wants what we cannot supply, then nice to meet you and sayonara, is the order of the day. Powerful personalities trying to shove the square peg into the round hole get nowhere here in Japan. Don't try to overpower the client and make them buy. Get out of there and go find another client who can buy. Hanging around trying to force the business is the waste of time, not the small talk itself before the main business discussion.
When presenting your solution, hold back any materials or samples or examples until you understand whether they want pink or blue. If possible hide these materials on the chair next to you, so they are out of sight. Only show the client what is relevant, based on what you heard they need. Whipping out your glossy brochure or slick sample, or snappy PowerPoint might get you excited, but we are here to get the client excited. The only way to do that is provide them with what they need.
Take your time, concentrate on building rapport and trust. Use the time available in the meeting to let the client do most of the talking and get them speaking about their business, the current market conditions, the relevant timing, their preferences, their frustrations, their experience and their biases.
When we know these things, then we have something to talk about, but not before.
Engaged employees are self-motivated. The self-motivated are inspired. Inspired staff grow your business but are you inspiring them? We teach leaders and organisations how to inspire their people. Want to know how we do that? Contact me at greg.story@dalecarnegie.com
If you enjoy these articles, then head over to www.japan.dalecarnegie.com and check out our "Free Stuff" offerings - whitepapers, guidebooks, training videos, podcasts, blogs. Take a look at our Japanese and English seminars, workshops, course information and schedules.
About The Author
Dr. Greg Story: President, Dale Carnegie Training Japan
In the course of his career Dr. Greg Story has moved from the academic world, to consulting, investments, trade representation, international diplomacy, retail banking and people development. Growing up in Brisbane, Australia he never imagined he would have a Ph.D. in Japanese decision-making and become a 30 year veteran of Japan.
A committed lifelong learner, through his published articles in the American, British and European Chamber journals, his videos and podcasts “THE Leadership Japan Series”, "THE Sales Japan series", THE Presentations Japan Series", he is a thought leader in the four critical areas for business people: leadership, communication, sales and presentations. Dr. Story is a popular keynote speaker, executive coach and trainer.
Since 1971, he has been a disciple of traditional Shitoryu Karate and is currently a 6th Dan. Bunbu Ryodo (文武両道-both pen & sword) is his mantra and he applies martial art philosophies and strategies to business.
Winner Sales Follow Through
The implication of this title is that if you don’t properly follow through on the sale then you are a loser. Well, it is true - you are a loser. The difficulty of gaining a sale is hard enough, but the real difficulty is to get the re-order. This is where we should all be very finely focused. Rather than approaching a potential client with a sale in mind, what if we set off with the idea of the re-order firmly entrenched in our brain? This simple switching of gears completely changes the conversation, the goals and the execution of the sale follow through.
What often happens though in a busy life is we have more than one client on the go. As we are completing one sale, we have other sales coming to fruition. There are proposals to write, meetings to be held, materials and data to be gathered – all sorts of tasks required to make the sale happen. In the middle of this rush, a sale is registered and the concentration on the imminent future sales, suck up all the energy and time that should be available to do a proper job of the follow through.
We need to think carefully about our workload and ensure that above all, we protect our reputation for reliability. If we are going though the Valley of Sales Death, where we have run out of prospects and the sales pipeline is now empty, we may be rushing around like a maniac trying reboot the sales process.
This means we are often over extending ourselves and we don’t get to the follow through in a timely manner. It might mean not following through fast enough with potential clients we met at networking events. We lose the momentum and now they don’t respond to us. It might mean, that we have sealed the sale and then mentally move on to securing the next one, without properly nailing down the execution piece of the first sale, we have just completed.
One key thing we need to check with the clients, is what are their expectations on the follow through, be they someone to meet after the networking event or actual clients who have just purchased from us.
Clients themselves are genius at this. You meet them, hit them up for a follow on meeting and they say contact me:
after Golden Week (May)
after obon (summer holidays in August)
after Silver Week (September)
after bonenkai (end of year party) season
after oshogatsu (New Years).
Basically they are trying to condition our expectations of getting a meeting with them. That is to say, they are resisting our efforts to see them, by trying to slip out of our schedules.
We can take a leaf out of their book too and make sure we set up the proper expectations for our follow through. If we are going to be busy, then we should say:
“Is it okay if I get back to you in a week or so,
regarding scheduling our follow up meeting?”
In this way, we are not putting too much pressure on ourselves, if we think we cannot actually squeeze in this next meeting reasonably soon.
If we have had the meeting, gone through our offer and have promised to send a proposal with pricing, then again we need to consider what is the time frame which will allow us to remain in control and project the best image of trustworthiness and reliability.
We could say:
“Thank you for the meeting today, would you mind
if I shoot the proposal out to you in two weeks time?”
If we have just made the sale, then we could looking at conditioning the follow through, by saying:
“Would it be too much trouble if I sent you the necessary materials
you have requested, in about two weeks time?”
I struggle with this myself. I get on a roll and pump up the client meetings, then the proposals have to start rolling out and this is highly time consuming. The days are filled with more and more meetings and the time between them to do the follow up gets squeezed. Deadlines start to get missed or start to drift and things start to fall of the table and not get done at all. I have to have a few harsh words with myself and tell myself to stop biting off more than I can chew.
Often, the client will stall you on a decision. “We will study the materials and get back to you”. They don’t and you don’t get back to them either, to see about the why they haven’t gotten back to you as promised. This is because you have moved on seamlessly to the next client meeting, then the next subsequent round of either hollow promises or genuine undertakings, which are slow to materialize. Sales brethren, don’t expect the client to do all the work on the follow through – that is our job.
So the first step is to condition the client’s expectations as you end the meeting about what will happen next and when it will happen. Give yourself time because you want to reinforce trust, credibility and reliability. Remember to the client, the things you promised in the meeting are just so much hot air coming from a salesperson. The real test is when we get down to the follow through. How do you want to be perceived when it’s show time?
Having set the time frames in a reasonable way, so you don’t blow yourself up, you now have to really ensure you deliver what was promised, on time, or even slightly ahead of time. Not too early though, because it will seem you were just sandbagging them on your turnaround times and certainly do not deliver anything after the agreed deadline.
They have given you permission to delay, but they don’t trust people who can’t make their own indulgent deadlines. Your trust quota from the client will immediately start to evaporate. Remember, our objective here is the re-order, not just a single sale. You might worry about all the potential business you have left on the table by taking this extra time to concentrate on the follow through with this one client. The trade off is that your reputation remains solid gold and you are going to ensure you will be around for a long time, not just a good time.
The terms of the deal will have certain specifications and these must be met. If you unilaterally decide to alter them and then announce the fact as a fait accompli to the client, expect trouble. Flexibility is not a widespread trait here in business in Japan, so expect a possible client meltdown.
There are so many human relations complexities in play here in Japan, because the people we are talking to have promised something specific to others. If we don’t fulfill our side of the bargain, then our clients lose face with their buyers. This is the modern commercial equivalent of seppuku (suicide) in Japan. The clients are more concerned about their long-term position in the market, based on established trust, than they are about saving a few pennies on the pound. They will never deal with you again, because the risk is too high against the potential reward. You don’t want that reputation – it will always come back to bite you when you can least afford it. In this social media world we now live in, bad news travels vast distances and at light speed.
You may have seen entertainment programmes where the performer has a number of large plates spinning on a thin, reedy looking stick. As they increase the number of plates in motion, they get busier and busier rushing around to keep them all spinning, so none crash and get broken. This is the sales life of follow through. If we over estimate our capacity and launch too many items for follow through at the same time, like those spinning plates, we will falter and crash.
We need to have a brilliant technology for time control and time management. We need to be highly disciplined. We need to be excellent memo takers to ensure we write down what needs to happen next. Never try to commit the many things you have to do to memory, unless you are operating at the genius level of detail recall. There is an ancient piece of wisdom on this:
“The faintest ink is superior to the best memory”
Write it all down, in detail, so that it is clear, creates a retrievable record and which is then actionable. We need to be able to transfer that information to our schedules and link it back to the required sequences of follow through. These all add up to our completion of the promise.
Often, we depend on others for some parts of the follow through and this is where we need to be excellent at delegation. The main reason we don’t delegate at all and blow ourselves up, is we are scared to rely on others. Somewhere in the past we were let down and we are haunted by that memory for our entire working lives. We cannot grow unless we get leverage. The chief source of leverage is other willing hands. The issue with delegation is we don’t do it properly and then conclude the tool, rather than the tradesperson is the problem.
When delegating there are some fundamental steps which must take place in order for us to be successful. Firstly we need to plan the delegation and select the best person for the task. This sounds infinitely reasonable, except we usually select the person who looks the least busy instead. Later we wonder why we have trouble on our hands.
The next step is we meet with that person to explain the task. This is where 99% of people get it wrong. They tend toward the “dump it” approach rather than the “sell it” approach. The “dump it” approach is where they just hand off the task and maybe explain a few of the details. Typically they just say, “I need this done by next Monday”. They leave out the WHY and the “What Is In It For You” part of the conversation.
Having explained the background, the WHY, their self interest in the project etc., we now work with the person being delegated to, on the timeline and delivery method. We want them to be doing the main part of this, so that they have ownership and control over how they deliver it. There will be milestones towards completion which need to be monitored. At the successful fruition of the delegation we celebrate the achievement.
Follow through is not a one time effort, it is an every time thing. In Japan, there is no margin for forgiveness of an error. We are focused on the re-order, so we begin the follow through in the way we want to finish – highly regarded as someone true to their word, who can be trusted and who is totally reliable.
Action Steps
Engaged employees are self-motivated. The self-motivated are inspired. Inspired staff grow your business but are you inspiring them? We teach leaders and organisations how to inspire their people. Want to know how we do that? Contact me at greg.story@dalecarnegie.com
If you enjoy these articles, then head over to www.japan.dalecarnegie.com and check out our "Free Stuff" offerings - whitepapers, guidebooks, training videos, podcasts, blogs. Take a look at our Japanese and English seminars, workshops, course information and schedules.
About The Author
Dr. Greg Story: President, Dale Carnegie Training Japan
In the course of his career Dr. Greg Story has moved from the academic world, to consulting, investments, trade representation, international diplomacy, retail banking and people development. Growing up in Brisbane, Australia he never imagined he would have a Ph.D. in Japanese decision-making and become a 30 year veteran of Japan.
A committed lifelong learner, through his published articles in the American, British and European Chamber journals, his videos and podcasts “THE Leadership Japan Series”, THE Sales Japan Series and THE Presentations Japan Series, he is a thought leader in the four critical areas for business people: leadership, communication, sales and presentations. Dr. Story is a popular keynote speaker, executive coach and trainer.
Since 1971, he has been a disciple of traditional Shitoryu Karate and is currently a 6th Dan. Bunbu Ryodo (文武両道-both pen & sword) is his mantra and he applies martial art philosophies and strategies to business.